Nueva Ecija town wages war on rats

Conclusion

SAN ISIDRO, Nueva Ecija – The municipal team used Biorat, a popular rodenticide in running after the rats hiding and nesting in the drainage in the public market. This biological rodenticide uses Salmonella enteriditis as the active ingredient, a strain specific to rats and mice only.

In its formulated form, Biorat is ready for application and does not require mixing with food as bait. It also does not cause bait shyness as there is no sudden death that can make rat cautious. Rather, Biorat attacks rodents resulting in high percentage of feeding and ingestion. A rodent gets sick three to four days after ingesting Biorat and dies.

Also, a single rat can contaminate many other rats inside the den even if they have not eaten it. One application of Biorat is effective for three to four months, making it a cost-effective method of controlling and eradicating rodents.

A single-season field trial conducted on the product showed that 25 grams and 50 grams of Biorat can be used per trap with 10 traps per 2,500 square meters for rat control.

Lorenzo said Biorat is extensively being used in Latin American, Cuba, Lebanon, Africa, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Cuba has been using the rodenticide for 15 years. "Vietnam used the rodenticide for seven years, helping Vietnamese farmers control rats and helped them become the world’s top rice exporter," she said.

In 1995, 30 tons of Biorat was used to wipe out colonies of rats and control leptospirosis in Nicaragua.

At the public market, the anti-rat campaign was done by putting one table spoon full of Biorat in a perimeter like manner.

Sonny Zeth Cucio, market administrator, said that an initial application of the rodenticide resulted to the death of 76 rats. He said that based on an ocular inspection, there were scores of other rats, including young pups, that died inside the drainage as evidenced by the strong odor.

Lorenzo said Biorat is not only effective in rat eradication and in preventing rat-borne diseases but is also harmless to humans, animals and the environmental as attested by the WHO Regional Office in Bolivia. She said that market vendors said they felt no ill effects from the application of Biorat.

It was also tried in 68 human volunteers who in a double blind test did not suffer from diarrhea or gastro-enteritis.

In 1994, 24 tons of Biorat was used to eradicate rats causing the outbreak of bubonic plague in the province of Lambayeque, Peru and at the General Hospital in Lapaz, Bolivia without any harm to humans, animals and patients.

The product was also applied in the Dominican Republic to eradicate rats destroying poultry, rice and cacao farms and in 12 sites consisting of cattle ranches, poultry and swine farms, food factory and grains warehouses in Ecuador and found to be 91.5 per cent effective.

Lorenzo said that just 10 days after the anti-rat campaign in the public market, rats became scarce in the area.

Other field tests in various places in this town, Lorenzo said, have proven that RED, using Biorat, has become the scourge of rats.

A recent seven-day field test at a 40-hectare riceland at Barangay Mangga led to the death of 1,831 rats. Even rats that did not ingest the Biorat were contaminated and died.

Yet another test at the Alua Poultry Farm led to the death of 238 rats, most of which died inside caves and dens. Although some Biorat baits were eaten by chicken, none of the chicken got sick or died. In fact, egg production even increased by 1,400 daily after 10 days from Biorat application.

"We are now winning the war against rats," Lorenzo said, adding the town government plans to intensify the RED program by mobilizing funds to serve as Rodenticide Control Fund (RCF).

Under the RED program, the mayor plans to hold so-called "D-Days" for rat eradication and appoint two overall project coordinators for the campaign, one for residential and household areas to be supervised by the municipal health officer and one for farms and to be supervised by the municipal agricultural officer.

She said that they would involve all barangay officials in the nine barangays to oversee RED in their respective jurisdictions as well as teachers and students and even soldiers as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Civil Relations program.

The municipal government is also planning to extend to farmers a Rat Eradication Loan (REL) payable in four installments.